The invention relates to the design of cradles, especially cradles that secure a removable device.
There are many types of cradles known in accordance with the generic term in the current state of the art. Refer to DE-A-4405506, WO-A-9725223 and DE-A-19652826 for examples of such cradles.
Each of these known cradles consists of a body comprising mainly of two side surfaces and a top and a bottom face surface. The DE-A-19652826 as well as the WO-A-9725223 has a movable hook on one of the face surfaces, while there is a tab on the other face surface. If a device is to be placed in and secured in one of the known cradles, the lower end of the device is initially placed between the body and the tab(s). Once this is done, the device and the body form an angle. To secure the device in the cradle the upper end of the device is then pressed towards the body or towards the face surface containing the movable hook(s). This movement will then cause the movable hook(s) to be bent or pushed back, and then snaps/snap back into its/their original position when the device has reached its end position in the cradle, simultaneously securing the device in the cradle. To remove the device from the cradle, there is a button or key on the face surface equipped with the movable hook(s) that bends the movable hook(s) away from the device so that the upper end of the device can then be removed from the face surface equipped with the movable hook(s). If the upper end of the device is removed from the face surface equipped with the movable hook(s), the device can be pulled out from between the body and the pocket created by the tab(s).
As can easily be understood, it is very unfavorable from an ergonomic standpoint to trigger the removal of the device by pressing the button on the top face surface. This is due to the fact that the natural grasping motion of a person always places the object between the thumb and fingers on the hand, whereby the thumb is primarily parallel to the fingers on the hand. If, based on this natural grasping motion, the device is now required to be removed by a user, the user will use either the thumb or the index finger to press the button. If the user uses the thumb, the inevitable result is that the user will not make good contact with the device. If the index finger is used, an unnatural spreading of the index finger away from the other fingers is required. If it is also taken into consideration that a non-negligible amount of force is required to press the button, then the removal of the device is often done in that one hand is wrapped around the device while the other hand is used to press the button or key. The amount of force needed can be reduced by changing the size of the button or key, but this also results in an increase in the overall length of the cradle.
The invention is the result of the task of specifying a cradle that eliminates the problems present in the current state of the art by designing a cradle that allows for a simple and secure method of removing a device secured in the cradle based on the natural grasping motion of a human hand.
The cradle of the invention provides that least one of the surfaces other than the surfaces on which the tabs and hook are located is equipped with a button that has a first slide surface on one end, and if there is a slider present whose one end is equipped with at least one second slide surface and whose other end activates the movable hook(s), whereby the first and second slide surfaces are in contact with each other, then the removal of the device from the cradle is very easy and safe to perform without requiring unnatural finger movements or the use of a second hand. Due to the fact that the direct connection between the button(s) and the movable hook is eliminated, the overall distance between the top and bottom face surfaces can be reduced.
If the first and second slide surfaces are both designed as flat surfaces, the pressing of the button can be somewhat difficult due to the friction produced by the surfaces sliding over each other. This binding is then eliminated when at least one of the two slide surfaces coming into contact with each other is designed as a curved surface.
If the cradle is equipped with springs that press either the second slide surface against the first slide surface or the first slide surface against the second slide surface, then it is ensured that the button(s) will always be pushed back to their initial position.
If, there is a spring-loaded cap present on the body that presses against a device placed in the cradle, then it is ensured that a device located in the cradle will more or less be placed in the hand of the user when the button is pressed because the spring-loaded cap pushes the device away from the body when the movable hook releases the device. A particular advantage in this context is that the device is independently pushed away from the body, i.e. no force need be applied using the fingers.
If, the device is a mobile telephone, then it can be very easily removed by hand from the cradle and placed back in the cradle regardless of whether the cradle is positioned horizontally or vertically.